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the promise of the tea-gods
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“You rented a name?”
“Yes. And then I rented another one, which is K. So please just call
me that.”
“All right,” he said. “It’s actually a good choice, as far as rented
names go. Simple. Easy to say. And unbelievably easy to spell.”
She gave him a playful look. A seagull landed on a wave. Everything
sparkled.
This woman is dangerously fascinating, he thought. I’m not crazy
about dangerous, but I love fascinating. He wished he could tie a rope
around the day and drag it home with him. But what do you do with a
day once you’ve taken it home, he wondered . . . Would a day even fit
through the door?
Deciding to leave the day right where it was, he continued down
whatever road he was on . . . “So, you’re in South Korea for how long?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Open return ticket?” he asked, smiling.
“Something like that,” she said, smiling back.
He felt her smile go right through him. Her voice was so beautiful,
so peaceful; he didn’t want this conversation to end. Ever. She felt so
familiar, so comfortable—sitting there, so gently beside him. He
reached for any question that would keep her there. “Is it true that you’re
a friend of Binnie’s?”
She lit up . . . A thousand watts of moonlight, he thought.
“Yes, Binnie and I have been best friends for a long time. We’ve
traveled the world together.”
“You’ve traveled with Binnie?”
“I have . . . We love a good adventure and throughout the years we’ve
covered a lot of territory.”
How is it, he wondered, that my best friend could also be her best
friend . . . What are the chances of that? And if they’ve known each
other for so long, why has Binnie never mentioned her? He said they
were only friends—but really, how could he, or anyone else for that
matter, know this woman and not fall madly in love with her? Geez,
she’s so beautiful and so easy to be with.
